The present invention relates to a solar ray collector device and, more particularly, to a solar ray collector which is suitable for use in an equatorial zone.
There has been proposed a solar collection system in which solar rays are converged by lenses or the like into a fiber optic cable so that the converged light may propagate through the cable to any desired location to serve a selected purpose, e.g. lighting. Such a system employs a solar sensor in order to sense the sun and directs the surfaces of the lenses on the sun throughout the day in response to an output of the solar sensor, thereby efficiently introducing solar radiation into the fiber optic cable.
A prior art solar collector device includes a number of lenses which are bundled up by a frame with a solar sensor mounted thereon. The lens assembly is rotatable about a first axis and a second axis which extends perpendicular to the first axis. The lens assembly and a drive mechanism associated therewith are encapsulated in a transparent dome-shaped housing. In operation, the lens assembly is moved about the first and second axes in response to an output of the solar sensor so that its light receiving surface is constantly directed sunward. The light converged by the lenses may be transmitted by a fiber optic cable to any desired place.
Designed for use in all the areas on the earth, the solar collector device described above requires the dome-shaped or spherical housing and the lens assembly is constructed to have a generally circular contour to match with such a configuration of the housing. The construction, however, will become more effective if exclusive use of the solar collector in a specific area on the earth is contemplated. In an equatorial zone, for example, the solar collector will not need the spherical configuration of the housing inasmuch as the sun in that zone on the earth moves substantially from east to west throughout the year with hardly any change in position in the north-and-south direction. Right on the equator where the angular movement of the sun in the north-and-south direction occurs over .+-.23.5 degrees, solar rays directed from such a north-and-south angular range toward the solar collector will be admitted into the housing without being reflected by the surface of the housing even if the housing surface is positioned flat in a horizontal plane.